Australia is 4.46 times larger than Alaska. Alaska is about 22% the size of Australia. Areas below are total areas from national statistics; the Mercator factor shows how much a standard web map inflates each one.
Australia is larger by 2,304,523 sq mi (5,968,687 km²).
Share of the two areas combined (true area, not map area)
| Metric | 🇺🇸 Alaska | 🇦🇺 Australia | Ratio / Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Area (Sq Miles) | 665,384 sq mi | 2,969,907 sq mi | 0.22x |
| Total Area (Sq Kilometers) | 1,723,337 km² | 7,692,024 km² | 0.22x |
| Population | 733,391 | 26,000,000 | 35.5x less |
| Population Density | 1.1 people / sq mi | 8.8 people / sq mi | Australia 7.9x denser |
| Capital or Seat | Juneau | Canberra | - |
| Largest Metropolitan Area | Anchorage | Sydney | - |
| Latitude Center | 64.0° | -25.0° | 89.0° lat diff |
| Mercator Area Inflation Factor | 5.21x | 1.22x | 4.27x visual distortion |
Because Alaska sits at 64°N, standard Mercator maps inflate it by over 500%, making Alaska look comparable in size to Australia. In reality, Australia is almost 4.5 times larger than Alaska.
Mercator projection formulas stretch surface area proportionally to sec²(φ) = 1 / cos²(φ), magnifying landmasses drastically near the north and south poles.
While Alaska looks massive on conventional classroom maps, Australia dwarfs it in true physical area. Australia covers 2,969,907 square miles, compared to Alaska's 665,384 square miles. Australia is 4.46 times larger than Alaska.
Alaska has more coastline (6,640 miles) than all other 49 US states combined.
Australia is both the world's smallest continent and the world's sixth-largest country by total area.
Mercator factors use the center latitude only (area scale = 1 / cos² of latitude), so they are approximations for places that span many degrees of latitude.
Use published areas from national statistics offices or census gazetteers rather than judging by pixels on a flat web map.
Remember that Web Mercator tiles distort areas by 1/cos²(latitude). High-latitude regions appear vastly larger than equatorial states.
Drag one outline over the other in the true size tool; the shape is re-projected as it moves, so it keeps its real size.
No. Australia is almost 4.5 times larger than Alaska. The apparent similarity on flat maps is an artifact of the Mercator projection.
Australia has about 26,000,000 people versus 733,391 in Alaska, roughly 35.5 times as many. Per square mile, that is about 1.1 people in Alaska and 8.8 in Australia.
By area, Alaska (1,723,337 km²) fits into Australia (7,692,024 km²) about 4.46 times. Shapes differ, so this is an area ratio, not a literal tiling.
